This is what we have spent or know we will spend as of now, and I'm sure more unexpected things will come up

Trip (flight and room for 7days for FI and I) $2400

Rehearsal dinner (maybe, still deciding if we want one) $1500

Wedding and reception (everything; flowers, food, booze, ect.) $1600

Dress with alterations $850

OOT bags $250

Groom and Groomsmen attire $200

Chip in on guests trip $1200

Photographer wedding and TTD $3300

Other random stuff like getting nails done, gifts, tips... $1000

We were trying not to spend very much at all and we are only having about 20 guests. The big one was the photographer but I was not cutting corners there

20 people is a great size wedding! And you'll be so happy with not skimping on your photographer.

If everyone gets along and its likely you will be eating other meals as large groups, you might be okay skipping the rehearsal dinner. If your side or his side is likely to split off an do their own thing, or get into fights about how to split a bill, you might be better of having that other time where everyone is together and you don't have to decide who you are going to split off with. I found that my parents were ready to go off an do their own thing and I had to remind them that my brother might want to eat with them since his girlfriend wasn't there. Or my brother came with us when we ate with my husband's dad's side of the family. Or one night we ate out with all the parents (his parents are divorced).

Our budget is $15-$20,000. Right now we have 30 guests. I feel like I cut corners but when I do the calculations, it's still a little pricey. What we have tabulated is closer to the $15,000 with our flights and stay included. My bone of contention is since we asked guests to travel so far, I have a few non negotiables. I also insisted on a full Catholic church ceremony which was costly-$1,000 in DR, but I also had to pay to take pre-marriage courses in NY- $275. Even at $20,000 it is less than our $40,000 wedding in NY and its a week as opposed to 5 hours in one day. I'm also trying to squeeze a return cocktail party into that budget- that's the REAL challenge haha. It is probably not even likely I'll be successful- but I already asked my mother and MOH to forego a bridal shower in the interest of helping me With a return cocktail party.

@ EVKnowsitall : I Fully agree with you. When we first started planning, we want to do it really simple for under $10k, but now some extra costs (pre wedding dinner) that I dont think it is negotiable - $15k is the minimum that we have to spend.

A while back I posted in this thread that our budget was $40-45,000. All in all we ended up spending about $55,000 on the DW in Mexico. As we got closer and closer to the wedding I found so many things that I was not willing to compromise on and just decided to spend the extra money to have my dream wedding. I would not have changed one thing except for having to pay the hotel $2,000 for rooms that didn't get booked. Our wedding was at Le Reve and we did a buy out for all 25 rooms and our contract required us to pay for any rooms that didn't get booked. Although we had 65 guess, many stayed at other properties and we ended up having to pay for empty rooms for the three-day buy out Other than that it was all money well spent!

A while back I posted in this thread that our budget was $40-45,000. All in all we ended up spending about $55,000 on the DW in Mexico. As we got closer and closer to the wedding I found so many things that I was not willing to compromise on and just decided to spend the extra money to have my dream wedding. I would not have changed one thing except for having to pay the hotel $2,000 for rooms that didn't get booked. Our wedding was at Le Reve and we did a buy out for all 25 rooms and our contract required us to pay for any rooms that didn't get booked. Although we had 65 guess, many stayed at other properties and we ended up having to pay for empty rooms for the three-day buy out Other than that it was all money well spent!

Wowzers thats quite a budget. But I understand not wanting to compromise. That's the predicament I'm in. Unfortunately, I will not have that kind of money to set aside, since we are paying for our wedding squarely on our own. We also have to squeeze an AHR into our small budget. But where there's a will there's a way. LOL I used to bartend in college, so I took a refresher course and I am bartending for the wedding! I picked up a weekend job to make some cold hard cash. My fiance thinks I'm nuts- but hey, why not- and I find bartending to be fun.